Dhanbad, August 22 : Jharkhand Chief Electoral Officer K. Ravi Kumar has directed electoral officials to conduct detailed scrutiny of discrepancies found in enumeration forms and supporting documents submitted by voters during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.
Kumar conducted physical inspections of polling stations across Dhanbad, Jamtara and Pakur and reviewed cases where inconsistencies were found in voter-submitted forms and documents.
Officials, including Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) and Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs), have been instructed to examine each case carefully and dispose of them according to established rules.
The Chief Electoral Officer directed that cases involving parents and their sons or daughters should, as far as possible, be heard together. This would enable officials to cross-check details relating to age, family relationships and citizenship along with the documents submitted by voters.
Officials have also been asked to examine the records of other family members if an age-related discrepancy is found in the declaration or documents of any one member.
During the inspections, discrepancies were found between dates of birth mentioned in valid documents and those entered by voters in their enumeration forms.
In some cases, officials also found instances where the recorded dates of birth of siblings were less than nine months apart, raising questions that require further verification.
Kumar said such logical inconsistencies indicate the need for a comprehensive examination of voters’ age and family records.
The Election Commission has directed officials to cross-check all available evidence and documents before taking a final decision in such cases.
The scrutiny comes amid the ongoing voter-list revision exercise in Jharkhand, with electoral authorities focusing on ensuring accuracy and consistency in voter records.
